The present invention is directed to shirt collars, and, more particularly shirt collars which do not require conventional stays.
Conventional woven lining used in the shirt industry today most often consists of cotton yarns of similar sizes in both warp and weft. Depending on the size and density of the yarns, the end product can be varied from light to heavy. No one lining by itself, however, has the properties needed to make the fold-over part of a collar (referred to hereinafter as the cape) rigid enough particularly in the area adjacent the knot of a tie, to appear crisp and neat, wash after wash. To this end, shirt manufacturers reinforce their capes with many varieties of stays (bones) which are inserted or attached by several different methods and which extend as far as possible into the points of the collar. Both home and commercial laundries have relied heavily on starch to put stiffness and body back into the collar after washing.
In the mid-seventies, a European process designed to combat the limp collar was accepted by the North American buying public. This involved laminating two pieces of cape lining into one, to result in a firmer cape, which was easier to iron after washing and much more attractive in appearance. The necessity for use of starch in the laundering of this type of shirt was eliminated. Still, manufacturers were unable to eliminate the need for a stay and those who attempted this failed, as the cape, in the area of the points, would curl progressively after laundering, usually out and up from the chest of the wearer.
The use of a stay has several drawbacks. When of the removable type they have a tendency to get lost. The permanent type, when subjected to abusive laundry and pressing conditions, may become brittle and disintegrate or tear away from the lining and float about in the cape. On almost any plain shade of shell cloth the shape of the stay will appear as a glossy image on the outside cape after commercial washing and pressing. For technical reasons it is virtually impossible to extend the stay to the extreme point of the cape. After some washings, as the finish in the lining gets worn, a marked difference will show in the point area. It will be rigid to the end of the stay, and limp from there to the end. The result is a "broken point" shaped like a drop of water about to fall from a tap.
In anything but top quality shirts, after a number of washings, the lining may become soft and collapse around the stay, making it appear as a hard elevated hump running bi-angular to the point.